I’m sick right now and I’ve been coughing up a lot of large green chunks. Is my body creating it to fight off whatever’s happening, or is the cold causing the phlem? I’d love to know!
Google didn’t help me very much when I asked, it kind of just told me that I either had the flu, bronchitis, or cancer. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
In: 97
Normally you make saliva/mucous in your nose/mouth/throat/lungs which is mostly water and fairly clear. When you add a bunch of protein/cells/cell debris to it, it can turn colors like green/yellow. So when you’re sick, whatever germ made you sick is attacking the cells lining your nose/throat/lungs is causing damage. In response, your immune system attacks back by killing the germs, killing cells infected by the germs, pushing any damaged stuff off of the cell lining, and even having some white blood cells jump out into the mucus to try to kill anything floating around in it.
It’s your immune system’s response to the germs that give you the symptoms you feel. Increased mucous production (now filled with remnants of battle, and thus different colors) and subsequent coughing to get it up and out of you.
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